On Thursday the Council of Ministers approved a law decree with new measures for fighting and preventing fires, which for weeks - like every summer - have been devastating the Italian territory.
The package of measures - explains the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies - provides for a new governance for structures that deal with fire prevention and allocates additional financial resources to enhance the state's operational capacity in the fight against fires, "with specific provisions in favor of the infrastructure of smaller islands and inland areas", reads the note.
On a regulatory level, at Regions is granted a substitute power when the Municipalities fail to update the register of land on fire in due time.
Another novelty concerns the Civil protection, which every three years will have to draw up a National plan for technological updating of the prevention and active fight against fires, to which 40 million are destined to acquire other operational means.
Another 7,5 million will go to theNational Institute of Geophysics to strengthen forecasting and prevention activities.
Finally, the government intervened on the penalties for crimes related to the fires. “The decree – reads the note from the Council of Ministers – increases both administrative and criminal sanctions, in particular for the hypothesis in which to start the fire is whoever would instead have the task of protecting the territory (a specific aggravating circumstance is introduced in this regard) and aims to harm the interests of the perpetrators of the crimes, to encourage collaboration with investigations and to encourage conduct aimed at repairing the damage caused. A sentence for arson for not less than two years also entails for the public employee the termination of the employment relationship with the public administration and the disqualification from the possibility of providing services in the field of firefighting. As is already the case for the active repentance envisaged for environmental crimes, a mitigating factor is introduced for those who, before the start of the process, provide for the safety and, where possible, the restoration of the places, except for causing the fire arson and those who served in the field of prevention and active fight against fires".
The new decree follows the one approved on August 26 with which the government, due to the high number of fires, declared the state of emergency in the regions of Calabria, Molise, Sardinia and Sicily.
